A striking climate change conundrum has emerged in Namibia, where drought threatens the survival of 200 elephants. The government’s solution? Sell the elephants.
My wife, who is a BBC radio journalist, recorded a special programme on ‘earth heroes’ in our local area. It features activists, inventors, entrepreneurs and more, and you can listen back here.
People have been talking about geothermal power from Cornwall for decades and the potential has never been properly tapped, so it’s great to hear that the first commercial contract has been signed to supply it. (It’s with Ecotricity, once again with another UK first.) It’s only for 3MW of power at the moment – but you’ve got to start somewhere.
Good to read about an amendment to the Basel Convention on waste trading, that will hopefully give developing countries more ways to prevent plastic dumping by overdeveloped nations.
This graph of new car sales in Norway, posted by Robbie Andrew on Twitter, shows how pure petrol or diesel cars are now very much a minority interest. This is a dramatic shift in a decade, and the kind of thing I would hope to see in Britain in the coming years – alongside an overall decline in car sales and increased public and active transport, naturally.
Three of this week’s posts, in case you missed them:
What are the best climate podcasts?
A few years ago there were very few podcasts on climate change. Then all of a sudden there were dozens, and I wrote a list of climate podcasts that I listened to at least occasionally. Fast forward four years and the podcast landscape has shifted significantly, with seven out of the ten podcasts I recommended…
Book review: Attensity, by The Friends of Attention
The great promise of social media was to make it easier than ever to make connections. It initially looked like it would help us make friends and build communities. And yet somehow social media has left us fragmented and isolated, more divided than ever. “How have we been separated from each other and the world…
The hardest parts of the climate transition
Climate disaster can be averted with current technologies and solutions. That’s an important message. We don’t need to hang our hopes on nuclear fusion, solar panels in space, or geoengineering. Preventing runaway climate change is within our power, starting with a full transition to clean energy and a circular economy. However, not everything can be…
The Earthbound Report 
Very interesting, well done.